


Tougher Than The Rest

by Baroness_Blixen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 11:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9893414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baroness_Blixen/pseuds/Baroness_Blixen
Summary: Set sometime after “The End”, but way before “FTF”: Mulder and Scully meet in the middle of the night.





	

The star-sprinkled sky is his only witness as Mulder looks left, looks right and finally sits down on the park bench. A puff of his own breath dissolves in front of him as he lets his hands wander under the hard surface. No bugs. He sighs into the crystal clear quietness that surrounds him and relaxes. He didn’t think there’d be bugs, of course. There weren’t any at his apartment either, or at Scully’s. No one cares. Except, apparently, Mulder himself. The files are gone, the work is dead and he’s just a man.

“Is this secrecy really necessary?” Scully appears out of the dark like a vision. She’s dressed for the occasion; all in black she fits right into the shadows. The street light across from them sputters a soft orange glow. It’s not much, but it’s enough. Just like being here with her, he thinks. They still have this; they still have each other. Don’t they?

“Better safe than sorry.” He mumbles as he watches his breath mingle with the crisp air. Scully wraps herself more tightly into her coat before she sits down next to him. She sits with her hands folded in her lap, just waiting. He’s asked her to come here and now he realizes he doesn’t have any profound reason. The truth is that he just wanted to see her, be with her. Their legs are touching and he’s thankful for her closeness, for her warmth. 

“Remember when they separated us the first time?” It’s a rhetorical question, yet he turns to look at her to gauge her reaction, “we met like this, too.” She nods staring straight ahead into an uncertain future. They don’t know what’ll happen or if they’ll ever work together again. Mulder’s nostrils sting with the memory of the flames, his skin itches with the remnants of the ashes. His life, their life, nothing but burnt paper now.

“Because you were paranoid.” He chuckles and nods. She’s still not paying any attention to him. Her hands bury in her coat pockets. He shouldn’t have asked her to meet him here, not this late. Scully should walk in the sunshine, not hide in the darkness. With him.

“Past tense, Scully?”

“You’re still paranoid, but-” 

“But what?”

“It feels different this time.” Scully admits and he understands. They’d been so young back then. So driven. It was before… before everything. Before her abduction, before Melissa. Before her cancer and Emily. Like a million lives already lived, already suffered through.

“I checked the bench for bugs.” He tells her. It’s not at all what’s on his mind right now, but it’s the only thing he manages to say.

“Of course you did.” Her lips curl up in a soft smile and without even looking at him, she puts her hand on his, squeezing it gently.

“Your hand is ice cold, Scully.”

“That’s what happens when you ask me to meet you in the middle of the night, Mulder.”

“I didn’t know where… to go.”

“It’s fine. It’s nice here. Though it’s probably just as nice, if not more so, in the daylight.”

“Scully, I’m not sure I can do this if they separate us again.” Mulder blurts. Scully’s hand is still there on his and she makes no move to take it away. Instead her fingers lace with his. He stares at their entwined hands and in the darkness he can hardly tell their fingers apart. This is not just his life, this is theirs; it hasn’t been just his work, his quest for so long. There’s no way of telling where he begins, where she ends. They’re an entangled mess, stuck together for life. In whatever capacity. This is what’s different this time. 

“It doesn’t matter, Mulder. We’ll fight for the x-files and until then, well, I guess we’ll have to meet like this.” She laughs softly, looking at him with rosy cheeks and determination in her eyes. His Scully, his little skeptical believer. She may not believe the same things he does, but she believes in the work; she believes in him, in them.

“We can meet at your apartment,” he tells her and she raises one eyebrow, “or mine. Just – I wouldn’t want to lose… this.” Scully suddenly gets up, removing her hand from his. He watches her, wondering if he said the wrong thing. But Scully holds out her hand and waits for Mulder to take it. When he finally does, she smiles up at him.

“Let’s get coffee somewhere and warm up.” Mulder walks with her, matching his steps with hers. He just wants to be by her side, in whatever way. He never wants to let go of her hand ever again. They’re doing this, whatever it will be, together. 

“And Mulder?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t want to lose this either. So stop worrying."

He can do that, he decides. At least for a couple of hours. For her. 


End file.
